Beyond Ordinary

Angel needed a job.

If she’d bothered to finish her degree, she could do a hell of a lot better than anything available in the want ads in Ordinary. A fresh spurt of disappointment ran through him. The woman had wasted a great opportunity. Probably spent too much time partying with men the way she had as a teen.

He’d seen it all from his bedroom window as he’d watched the world go by. When boredom nearly killed him, Papa would move him for a few days to the apartment above the newspaper offices, where he could watch the happenings on Main Street.

All the while, he kept a journal, chronicling his feelings of isolation and the yearning to be normal and his observations of his fellow man’s behavior, as seen from a bird’s-eye view. That journal, about to be published, was paying off for him now.

When he’d turned twenty, he’d moved to the apartment for good.

He read the list of job openings: Bernice’s Beauty Salon, the New American diner and Chester’s Roadhouse. Even a wild girl like Angel wouldn’t work at the Roadhouse.

Angel put the notes she’d taken in her pocket. She folded the newspaper neatly and handed it to Timm along with the pen.

By way of thanks, she nodded then walked out of the office and turned left toward the beauty salon and the diner. Appeared as though she was being smart, keeping away from Chester’s at the other end of Main.

Good.

At that moment, Sheriff Kavenagh entered the office.

“Cash,” Timm said. “How’s the law-enforcement business today?”

Cash barely noticed Timm. He was watching Angel walk down the street.

“Angel’s back,” he said, a big grin flashing. The sheriff was a good-looking guy. He and Angel had made a handsome couple for a while before Angel headed off to college.

Timm wondered if they’d ever—

Probably.

His inner bully resurfaced. He didn’t want Cash sliding around on the playground of Angel’s body. Or any other man. It seemed that where Angel was concerned, Timm was one big lusting, jealous male hormone. And that bothered him.

Get a grip.

Cash finally turned to Timm and said, “You hear things around town. You know anything about a bike that’s stranded on the side of the road out past Sadie Armstrong’s place?”

“Angel rode in on it last night.”

“Why did she leave it on the road?”

For some reason he didn’t look at too closely, Timm didn’t want to tell the sheriff about Angel trying to set fire to that bike. “She ran out of gas.”

“Yeah? She should have gotten Alvin to tow it.”

“I picked her up when I saw her stranded,” Timm said. “It was already dark. She’ll probably take care of it today.”

“Someone tried to burn it.” Cash didn’t look happy. “Idiot could have started a fire. I need to find out who did it and put the fear of God into him. Give him a ticket. He could have burned up a fair portion of the countryside.”

Now was the time for Timm to admit that Angel was the culprit. He was normally an honest man. Why protect Angel? She was a big girl and plenty capable of taking care of herself. As far as Timm could tell, Angel’s attitude hadn’t changed one bit while away. So why was she worthy of his protection?

He held his tongue.

“So Angel’s back,” Cash mused, with a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “She’ll perk up the town.”

Timm stepped around the counter, edgy today, but he couldn’t pinpoint why. “The town’s already perked up enough with the bar full of bikers every night.”

Cash grew serious and nodded. “I know. Williams had to break up another fight there last night. His report said it happened about ten. He’ll be on shift again at eight tonight if you want to talk to him.”

“Thanks,” Timm answered, walking beside Cash to the open doorway. “I’ll interview him for Saturday’s paper.”

Sweat beaded on Timm’s forehead and he fingered the button at his throat, tempted to open it. He might have come to terms with his scars, but he doubted that anyone in town wanted to see them.

“I’m organizing a town meeting for Thursday night at the Legion Hall,” he said. “We need to get Chester’s closed down.”

“Good luck with that. He’s not breaking any laws.”

“I know.” Timm had looked at the problem from every angle. “All I can do is gather the citizens and mount a protest.”

Cash pointed a finger at Timm. “You be careful. Those bikers aren’t going to be happy about this. Watch your back.”

Timm nodded. He wasn’t worried for himself, but what if they bothered Ma, or his sister, Sara, now that she was home from school?

“You’ll get a lot of support,” Cash said, stepping onto the sidewalk. “The townspeople respect you, Timm. As future mayor, you know they’ll listen.”

Timm smiled. “I’m not mayor yet.”

“Don’t worry. You will be.”

“We’ll see.” The election was in two more weeks and Max Golden, his only competition, was a popular guy. “I don’t like to make assumptions.”

Cash was right, though. As publisher of the most well-read small-town newspaper in the state, he held a good position. People respected a man when he was good at his job. Timm had been born to use his brain and, with the paper, he got to use it all—creativity and research and reporting the facts. Yeah, he did his job well.

He’d see if that parlayed into votes.

“Will you come to the meeting?” Timm asked. “It would look good if you showed up. Seven o’clock.”

“I’ll still be on duty, but if nothing’s going on in town, I’ll be there.” Cash walked away.

Timm focused on the building at the end of the street. Six months ago, Chester had rented the last two storefronts on Main and had turned them into one large space.

Any new business in Ordinary should have been a relief to the town. In the summer, they usually appreciated tourist dollars, but that source of income had dried up this year a few months after Chester’s grand opening, when the bikers had appropriated the bar as their own.

Main Street pretty well became theirs after eight every night.

Timm’s concern had nothing to do with money or tourists, though.

For him, this fight was personal.

CHAPTER THREE